Jaina Theories of Reality and Knowledge

SR No.: 001608
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Y J Padmarajiah
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal
Publication Year: 1963
Total Pages: 444
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Epistemology, & Anekantvad
File Size: 23 MB

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JAINA THEORIES OF REALITY AND KNOWLEDGE
confirms this truth in the sūtra : dravyāśrayā nirguņāh guņāḥ'. Sattva and asattva, the attributes of a vastu only, cannot, therefore, give rise to further pairs of similar attributes. Hence the question of anavasthā, the Jaina concludes, does not arise in his case.'
4. Sankara, and 5. Vyatikara : Neither sarkara (confusion) nor vyatikara (exchange of natures) between bhāva and abhāva would arise from the Jaina point of view owing to the admitted fact that the variegated character of reality is clearly evident as in the case of a multi-coloured gem (mecakaratna) or of a similar fabric (citrapata). Moreover,
1. TRAG, p. 243.
Further, in course of his defence of the Jaina stand against this charge, Gunaratna distinguishes two kinds of infinite regress (anavastha): one the vicious' infinite, and the other the nonvicious or the 'harmless' (asakta) infinite. The names he gives them respectively, are mülaksatikāri (lit. that which cuts the root) and amülaksatikari (lit. that which does not cut the root). They are so described because the first one tends to cut at the very root of the substance it analyses and the second one to 'save' the root. The second one is also described as being indicative or illuminative of the manifoldness of reality (amülaksatikäritvena pratyutānekāntasyoddīpakatvāt). See TRD, p. 234, and compare the stanza, quoted by Gunaratna, with the one pointed out by Dasgupta as having been quoted by Jayanta (HIP, Vol. I, p. 160, f. n. 1). Although both of them describe the two distinctions of the vicious' and the 'harmless' infinites the latter half of the stanza quoted by Gunaratna is adapted to express the 'anantya' or 'the anekāntatva' principle of Jaina ontology. It is, however, a pity that Gunaratna does not fully work out the implications of his argument and show how the 'harmless' infinite-which he exalts as being a 'bhūşaņa'-is directly applicable to the Jaina theory which is, ex hypothesi, accepted as being free from any kind of infinite regress.